employee ownership - means or end?

[Dan Bell <dbell@kent.edu>]

Deb Olson's comments on the union perspective on employee
ownership brought to mind the following question:

Is employee ownership a goal in itself or simply a
means to other ends?

These ends could be:

Worker input into working conditions that make working
lives safer, more productive and more meaningful.

Employment security that allows one to continue living
at an equal or higher standard of living than yesterday,
without having to relocate.

Retirement security that allows one to maintain this same
standard of living when a reasonable working life has been
completed.

Where union leaders are democratically elected and
given the legitimate authority to represent the
interests of those workers who elected them, they
must evaluate employee ownership as a tool which
contributes to or detracts from such goals.

The form of employee ownership being proposed in
any given situation is what union leaders evaluate.

Sometimes employee ownership is the best available
alternative for achieving the desired balance between
these goals. At other times, there may be alternatives
which achieve a better balance.

I suspect that there are better alternatives for
retirement security. However, worker input and
current employment security are often greater
with employee ownership.
--
Dan Bell
International Program Coordinator
Ohio Employee Ownership Center
Kent State University
Kent, OH 44242
(330) 672-3028
(330) 672-4063 fax
dbell@kent.edu
http://www.kent.edu/oeoc/